F-Nicrosil and Feruchemical Efficiency

[Trusk'our he/him]

I read this quote awhile ago, and it made me think about another use for F-nicrosil.

Quote

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/467/#e14740

Yoonseo Chang

Looking at Allomancy, you've mentioned that over time the power dilutes and each ability becomes less powerful. (for example a Tineye in Era 2 will generally be less powerful than one in Era 1) Does the same effect happen in Feruchemy as well? How would Feruchemy become less pure or diluted (other than Ferrings appearing)?

Brandon Sanderson

I have not gone as far with Feruchemy in that regard. I would say that if you're going to get a weakening of Feruchemy, which you're asking about, is the amount of stored attribute you get for lost attribute. There is decay there, you don't get a 1:1. Feruchemy generally I would say is not much weaker than it was before, a little bit but not much. This was done partially for narrative reasons. I wanted Allomancy... I wanted to back off a little on Allomancy and tell stories with it a little bit weaker. Again, mostly narrative reasons at this point. At this point on Scadrial, it's weakened about as much as it's going to because by this point people are having children that are more powerful because of the certain mixing. I'm not saying it's going up, I'm saying they have hit an equilibrium on Scadrial for the most part, at least in the Basin.

There are two ways to interpret that, from what I can tell; either a Feruchemist with a weakened power "leaks" some small extra amount of attribute when they store, meaning that their Metalminds get filled with slightly less Investiture than what the Feruchemist gave up. So, for example, a Feruchemist who spent 60 minutes storing 20% of their strength in a Pewtermind would only really have 59-58 minutes worth of attribute stored in the Metalmind if they were somehow to tap it with perfect efficiency. A Feruchemist who gained their powers via Hemalurgy would be even worse- their power is weakened.

However, the second interpretation interests me more; what if the attribute in the Metalmind is equal to what the Feruchemist stored, but when the Feruchemist taps that attribute it is simply less efficient; they may store 60 minutes worth of attribute, but when they tap it they lose some due to entropy.

If you want to know whether this is actually possible via Cosmere rules, look no further than the SA. SA spoilers, in case you somehow weren't aware 

Spoiler

As a Radiant's Surges get stronger, they get more efficient at using their Stormlight.

 I find it important to note that they don't get more Kinetic Investiture (the fuel of their powers) as they get more powerful as they are not drawing from the SR as Allomancers do, but they do get more efficient, most likely because the Investiture that makes the "power" that is plugged into their Spiritweb gets stronger as they progress in Oaths.

If the second interpretation holds true, then a Full Feruchemist (or anybody who had F-nicrosil and another Feruchemical power through some means) who stored their ability to use their other powers might be able to tap at much higher rates and suffer significantly less loss of Investiture due to attribute compression. They could store their ability to use their powers when not actively tapping or storing those powers, which would be pretty easy in comparison to the other attributes such as strength, health, or speed.

Maybe this wouldn't be as crazy as Compounding, but I think that it could have some serious potential.

[Underwater_Worldhopper he/him]

5 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

I read this quote awhile ago, and it made me think about another use for F-nicrosil.

There are two ways to interpret that, from what I can tell; either a Feruchemist with a weakened power "leaks" some small extra amount of attribute when they store, meaning that their Metalminds get filled with slightly less Investiture than what the Feruchemist gave up. So, for example, a Feruchemist who spent 60 minutes storing 20% of their strength in a Pewtermind would only really have 59-58 minutes worth of attribute stored in the Metalmind if they were somehow to tap it with perfect efficiency. A Feruchemist who gained their powers via Hemalurgy would be even worse- their power is weakened.

However, the second interpretation interests me more; what if the attribute in the Metalmind is equal to what the Feruchemist stored, but when the Feruchemist taps that attribute it is simply less efficient; they may store 60 minutes worth of attribute, but when they tap it they lose some due to entropy.

If you want to know whether this is actually possible via Cosmere rules, look no further than the SA. SA spoilers, in case you somehow weren't aware 

  Hide contents

As a Radiant's Surges get stronger, they get more efficient at using their Stormlight.

 I find it important to note that they don't get more Kinetic Investiture (the fuel of their powers) as they get more powerful as they are not drawing from the SR as Allomancers do, but they do get more efficient, most likely because the Investiture that makes the "power" that is plugged into their Spiritweb gets stronger as they progress in Oaths.

If the second interpretation holds true, then a Full Feruchemist (or anybody who had F-nicrosil and another Feruchemical power through some means) who stored their ability to use their other powers might be able to tap at much higher rates and suffer significantly less loss of Investiture due to attribute compression. They could store their ability to use their powers when not actively tapping or storing those powers, which would be pretty easy in comparison to the other attributes such as strength, health, or speed.

Maybe this wouldn't be as crazy as Compounding, but I think that it could have some serious potential.

That's a pretty solid theory as far as I can tell. Brandon probably meant the first one, but if the second is true, then I see no reason why that wouldn't work. Very cool theory!